The Starmer project is going up in smoke – but if the left cannot swiftly build a viable alternative, the country faces the grim reality of a hard-right takeover, says ANDREW MURRAY
As Napo’s annual conference begins today, it seems timely to reflect on what has happened to a once award-winning public service in the last three years.
Transforming Rehabilitation, introduced by the then justice secretary Chris Grayling, was criticised by stakeholders from the day it was proposed as being an ill-conceived social experiment that would lead to public safety risks, a deterioration of quality and effectiveness, and a profit motive at odds with the service’s values.
Napo, one of the most critical voices at the time, predicted that the so-called reforms would result in chaos and poor standards both in service delivery and in the terms and conditions for staff.
IAN LAWRENCE welcomes the government sentencing review but warns past experience shows such words rarely translate into meaningful action
MARK FAIRHURST highlights the main issues facing officers in a long neglected service, and raised by front-line delegates at POA conference last week, including understaffing, violence, bullying and the ongoing denial of workers’ right to strike



